Louisville`s Crum Breeds Success

DALLAS — Denny Crum can`t remember all the details of his first Louisville team`s trip to the Final Four in 1972.

But he does remember the opponent.

UCLA. Invincible UCLA.

How could he forget? Crum, just a rookie head coach then, had been imported from John Wooden`s UCLA staff to give the Cardinals a national image. Now the pupil found himself matched up against the teacher in the national semifinals.

``I had mixed emotions,`` Crum recalled. ``I remember thinking they were all players I had helped recruit. When you play your alma mater it`s one thing; to play players you`re close to is another.

``I also remember we weren`t good enough to handle the Bruins. No one else was, either.``

In 1975, Crum was offered a chance to coach UCLA when the Wizard of Westwood finally retired after winning 10 national championships. But Crum turned it down. The Wooden shoes might have been too big to fill, even for a favorite son.

Crum, who considers Wooden the greatest coach in the history of the game, was building a dynasty of his own in bluegrass country.

When Crum arrived at Louisville in 1971, the program was operating under the long shadow of University of Kentucky basketball. But Crum has changed that, transforming the Cardinals into a national power that has reached the Final Four six times in the last 15 years and won an NCAA title in 1980.

Crum believes this year`s team, which will play LSU in one of Saturday`s national semifinals, could win another.

Louisville certainly is peaking at the right time. The Cardinals (30-7)

have won 15 consecutive games, beating Memphis State twice and knocking off Drexel, Bradley, North Carolina and Auburn in the tournament.

``We played absolutely as well as we can play,`` Auburn coach Sonny Smith said after the Cards defeated the Tigers 84-76 in the Midwest Regional final. ``But Louisville is playing as well as anyone in the country.``

Crum was betting on that when his young, talented Cardinals played early- season, non-league games against teams such as Kansas, St. John`s, Indiana and Kentucky.

``Early in the year, I said if this team made normal progress, it would be as competitive as any in the country,`` Crum said. ``I knew the talent level was there, especially after the Big Apple NIT when we were within one point in the last three minutes of St. John`s and Kansas.``

The Cardinals` maturity is manifested in the growth of 6-9 freshman center Pervis Ellison, who has emerged as the best young post player in the country during the last 10 games.

--part of the fabled Camden Connection--are playing like great players has helped make Louisville the team to beat in the Final Four, according to the oddsmakers.

Crum always has been willing to play the odds.

The story is still told of the time he played a game of H-O-R-S-E with a prospective recruit in Indiana.

``I told him if I won, he had to make an official visit to Louisville,``

Crum said.

Crum, a fine shooter when he was an undergrad at UCLA, attempted a 23-foot set shot from the deep corner, but missed.

Then the recruit took the ball and made five shots in a row from the same spot.

Larry Bird couldn`t miss.

``I congratulated him, and we went home,`` Crum said. ``I had nothing to lose. He didn`t want to visit Louisville. If I had won, who knows? He might have come to Louisville, liked it and stayed.``

The 48-year-old Crum always has dared to be great, and his teams reflect his personality. Crum has won 368 games in 15 seasons. If he continues at his current pace of 24 victories a year and chooses to remain active until he is 70, Crum would challenge Adolph Rupp`s NCAA record of 875 career victories.

But don`t bet on Crum hanging on that long.

``I can`t see myself coaching the rest of my life,`` Crum said. ``When I`m not ready to start a new year, when I feel used up or fed up, I`ll get out. Right now I`m fine and happy, but it`s also a lot harder than it was when I started.``